Philosophy

Full-Time Faculty:

Steven G. Affeldt (2011)

Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of The McDevitt Center for Creativity and Innovation. B.A., The University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D., Harvard University.

Steven Affeldt's research explores intersections of ethics, social/political philosophy, and aesthetics. Drawing on a wide range of figures—including Plato, Augustine, Rousseau, Kant, Emerson, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Freud, Heidegger, and Wittgenstein—he works to show how philosophy and philosophical texts may be redemptive: possessed of the power to inspire, inform, and effect liberating transformations of both individuals and societies. He has published highly influential articles on Rousseau, Wittgenstein, and Stanley Cavell and is Director of the McDevitt Center for Creativity and Innovation at Le Moyne. He enjoys teaching in virtually any area of philosophy and at all levels.
email:affeldsg@lemoyne.edu

Thomas Brockelman (1994)

Thomas Brockelman is the author of Zižek and Heidegger: The Question Concerning Techno-capitalism (Continuum, 2008), The Frame and the Mirror: on Collage and the Postmodern (Northwestern UP, 2001), and numerous articles in architectural theory, aesthetics and psychoanalytic theory. His research interests include modern and postmodern studies and critical theory. Beyond his duties in Le Moyne’s Core curriculum and the program in Integral Honors, he teaches departmental courses in philosophy and technology, Freud and philosophy, aesthetics and the history of philosophy.
email: brocketp@lemoyne.eduThomas Brockelman's website

William Day (1997)

William Day writes on aesthetics and moral perfectionist thought, with particular focus on the work of Wittgenstein, Cavell, Emerson, and Confucian thinkers. He is contributing co-editor (with Victor J. Krebs) of Seeing Wittgenstein Anew (Cambridge UP, 2010). Among his other publications are articles and book chapters on Wittgenstein, Cavell, Emerson, the Confucian thinkers Xunzi and Wang Yangming, moral perfectionism, jazz improvisation, and contemporary Hollywood comedies of remarriage. He teaches courses in the philosophy of art, American philosophy, theory of knowledge, the philosophy of language, and the experience of time.
email: daywb@lemoyne.eduWilliam Day's curriculum vitaeWilliam Day's web page at Academia.edu

C. Tabor Fisher (Chair) (2002)

Tabor Fisher researches philosophy of space in relation to social justice, focusing especially on questions of race, gender, sexuality and class. She is a contributor to What Is a City? Rethinking the Urban after Hurricane Katrina (University of Georgia, 2008) and has written about space, oppression, and resistance in the works of Plato and Locke. Fisher teaches courses on space, masculinity and education. She is also the director of Le Moyne's Literacy Empowers All People program, which empowers K-12 children who live in poverty to get their words out into the world.
email: fisherct@lemoyne.edu

Irene Liu (2005)

Irene Liu specializes in ancient Greek philosophy, with a particular emphasis on the Hellenistic period. She teaches courses in the history of philosophy and ancient Chinese thought.
email: liui@lemoyne.edu

Cavin Robinson (2011)

Cavin Robinson’s interdisciplinary areas of research include early modern political thought, socioeconomic disparity, and narratology. He is interested primarily in the early modern roots of modern political sovereignty and the rational political subject. His research investigates the manner in which early modern Western narratives played a role in the formation of social norms that govern modern identity politics and continue to bolster modern socioeconomic disparity. He is currently working on a book which identifies African American slave narratives as both critiques and exemplars of early modern political philosophic work on freedom, justice, and identity formation.
email: robinscb@lemoyne.edu

Mario Sáenz (1989)

Mario Sáenz's work focuses mainly on late modern Latin American and Continental European philosophy. His publications include The Identity of Liberation in Latin American Thought (Lexington, 1999) and (as editor) Latin American Perspectives on Globalization (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003) as well as articles on René Descartes, Jürgen Habermas, Karl Marx, Rigoberta Menchú, Leopoldo Zea, and Enrique Dussel. Sáenz has presented his work at universities and conferences in the U.S., Cuba, Kenya, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Mexico, and Venezuela. Sáenz's scholarship has resulted in several academic honors, including being named Le Moyne College Scholar of the Year in 2000 and being awarded the Joseph C. Georg Endowed Professorship for 2006-2009.
email: saenz@lemoyne.eduMario Sáenz's website

Ludger Viefhues-Bailey's work integrates philosophical modes of analysis with those pertaining to gender and cultural studies. He is the author of Between a Man and a Woman? Why Conservatives Oppose Same-Sex Marriage (Columbia UP, 2010) and Beyond the Philosopher’s Fear. A Cavellian Reading of Gender, Origin, and Religion in Modern Skepticism (Ashgate 2007). Currently he is working on a book entitled No Separation. How Religion Makes the Secular Nation State. Ludger is the Director of the Gender and Women's Studies Program at Le Moyne. He serves as co-chair (with Joseph Prabhu) of the philosophy of religion section of the American Academy of Religion. Before coming to Le Moyne he was associate professor for Methods and Theory in the Study of Religion at Yale University, where he taught from 2002-10.
email: ludger.viefhues@gmail.comLudger Viefhues-Bailey's website